KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tattoos have long served as fashion statements, but a small number of Americans are now relying on them for a more practical, potentially lifesaving purpose: to warn first responders about important medical conditions.

Some medical tattoos are being used to take the place of bracelets that commonly list a person’s allergies, chronic diseases or even end-of-life wishes.

“Bracelets are nice, but something as strong as a tattoo … that is a strong statement,” said Dr. Ed Friedlander, a Kansas City pathologist who has “No CPR” tattooed in the centre of his chest, where a paramedic would see it.

Friedlander, 60, got the tattoo to emphasize his decision to forgo CPR if his heart stops.

Medical tattoos don’t appear to carry much legal weight. It’s unclear whether an ambulance crew racing to treat a gravely ill patient could honour a request such as Friedlander’s based on the tattoo alone.

But the markings do offer a simple and permanent way to give rescuers important health details.

Melissa Boyer, of Nashville, Mich., wore bracelets for years to identify her as a diabetic, but she kept losing or breaking them. The 31-year-old decided months ago to get a 3 1/2-inch tattoo on her left forearm that includes the medical symbol and identifies her as a Type 1 diabetic. It also declares her allergies to penicillin and aspirin.

“It’s been 29 years that I’ve had (diabetes), and I went through I-don’t-know-how-many bracelets,” she said. “I went and got the tattoo, and it made life easier.”

The American Medical Association does not specifically address medical tattoos in its guidelines. But Dr. Saleh Aldasouqi, an endocrinologist at Michigan State University, hopes that might change.

Aldasouqi, who has written about the tattoos, has seen them among his diabetic patients and feels they are becoming so popular that the medical profession needs to help guide their development.

“My intention has been to bring this issue to the surface so that medical organizations can have a say in that,” he said. “When you just Google it, you’re going to find hundreds of stories and discussions, but no medical say. So I feel we leave our patients kind of afloat.”

It would be helpful, for instance, if the tattoos were uniform or placed in the same area of the body so responders would know where to look, he said.

“My perspective is that we as physicians need to be involved in this,” he added.

Aldasouqi does not advocate for or against the tattoos, but he says patients and doctors should discuss the idea beforehand.

If one of his diabetic patients sought a tattoo, Aldasouqi would recommend using a licensed tattoo artist and carefully controlling blood sugar during the procedure.

The National Tattoo Association, a non-profit that raises awareness about tattooing, does not track the numbers or styles of tattoos. Sailor Bill Johnson, a spokesman for the association, said he does about one medical tattoo a year at his shop in Orlando, Fla.

“Nine times out of 10, it’s either allergic to something, penicillin or peanuts,” he said.

Still, it’s questionable whether medics or doctors would be under any obligation to honour end-of-life instructions in a tattoo, unless they could be sure the patient also had signed legally binding papers.

Laws on do-not-resuscitate orders can vary widely from state to state. Missouri law does not address medical tattoos at all.

“What we can tell you is what the law says. What we can’t tell you is what assumptions people are going to make,” said Gena Terlizzi, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services.

However, emergency professionals are always on the lookout for information about a patient’s condition and treatment preferences, and that includes looking for medical tags, bracelets and possibly tattoos, said Dr. David Tan, medical director of Washington University Emergency Medical Services in St. Louis.

“It’s something I have not seen a whole lot of, but it’s out there,” Tan said. “I think tattoos just aren’t that conventional. But I don’t think it makes it any less useful.”

A tattoo alerts “any medical professional to stop and think a moment,” he added.

Tattoos are unlikely to replace medical alert jewelry, said Ramesh Srinivasan, spokesman for the MedicAlert Foundation, which sells more than 100,000 pieces of jewelry a year that have medical conditions on them.

Unlike tattoos, MedicAlert jewelry also provide information that gives a “complete snapshot” of the person’s health that can be accessed by professionals.

Friedlander encourages patients to make their own medical decisions and to spell out their wishes ahead of time. He has paperwork outlining his preference to avoid CPR, but the tattoo, he explained, will “make people a whole lot more comfortable about honouring my known wishes.”

“In pathology, you think a lot about the end of life,” he said. “Nobody would ever accuse me of not loving life. … When this thing stops beating, it’s time for me to move on.”

My wife and I are entering the Vancouver Sun Run 10K Marathon this year to aid the survival of the Friends of Animals Neas Filadelpheas in Athens, Greece for the strays, the volunteers, and mostly for the children.

We volunteered at the shelter for 3 years before moving to Canada. I assisted with the dog-walking and manual labour but my wife lived and breathed helping. She built them a website, put them on Facebook, started school programs, made radio commercials, wrote petitions and brochures, organized volunteers, events and protests and mostly fundraised like crazy. She even has their logo tattooed on her arm! How crazy is that!

Rescue Tattoo

I have been in Canada for almost two years now and one thing that I have learned about Canadians is that they have big hearts and are willing to help others besides themselves. Never have I seen to many charities being supported by everyday people. It is a real eye-opener!

We are already have two dogs and two cats that we brought from Greece with us and are Virtual Parents to two strays at the shelter but really it is not enough.

When I saw the advertisement for the Sun Run, I thought I may not be a fit man but I have Greek determination and will do this for the strays. My wife agreed and volunteered to build our team and to put this Cause in front of as many people as possible.

Hi Everyone! I am Blaze Schwaller, founder of the Spirit Gallery Tattoo, in New London, CT. Our studio is holding it’s third annual Skin to Canvas gallery show this July 28th through September 29th, 2012. We are looking for tattoo artists and body mod professionals to hang paintings, sculptures and drawings that they make outside of the tattoo booth – showcasing that tattooist are artists and giving the public a taste of the beautiful and creative art being produced by the members of the tattoo industry.

The show will be heavily promoted through the radio, web and social media – each year the turn out is larger and larger! Please contact me or Lari at Spirit Gallery Tattoo for more information and to be included in the press release as a participating artist! More information will be on our website starting in May as we begin putting together this diverse and exciting show. www.spiritgallerytattoo.com

I, myself, am a huge believer in the transformational quality of tattooing. I really love working with my clients to help them capture a moment on their skin. The collaboration between the client and artist is very fulfilling for me. It allows me to share my love for art with someone on a very personal and permanent level – I couldn’t ask for anything more awesome to spend my time doing!

My favorite tattoos to work on are of animals, portraits, flowers and other natural settings. I love capturing the archetypal essence of an idea for someone and translating it into an image that is beautiful and serves its purpose. Sure, not all tattoos have deep meaning – but they do capture some aspect of our souls, and I love looking for that connection and making it apparent on the skin.

I opened Spirit Gallery Tattoo in July of 2007. The Gallery combines my love of painting and illustration with the transformational power of tattoos. I am a painter as well as a tattoo artist, and have been working on a series of life-size portraits of friends and family for a gallery show here this October of 2012.

I love portraiture, nature and wildlife tattoos, and enjoy story-telling and fantasy art. When I am not at the tattoo studio or at home painting, you an usually find me at Southwick’s Zoo in MA, or hiking at local parks. I continue to paint and study with artists who inspire me, and bring that inspiration into the tattoos I am honored to work on.

I’m also a huge fan of wildlife, and support the Wolf Conservation Center of NY (www.nywolf.org) as well as conservation groups such as the NRDC. I held a charity show for them in 2010 to help raise funds for their educational and breeding programs reintroducing wolves to their natural environments. As part of the fundraising process, I went out on a limb and requested donations from several celebrities, and the first one to respond was Donald Trump! Inspired by his contribution, I painted “Trump Wolf”. Atka (shown above) visited us twice for this show – once to model for the artists painting for the show, and again at the opening reception for an educational talk to the public, and of course to see his paintings! 🙂

TattCafe is proud to share this ‘Call for Artists‘ on behalf of Blaze Schwaller and Spirit Gallery Tattoo in New London, CT, USA. TattCafe.com is an online dating site for tattooed people and those who love them. Visit our website at www.TattCafe.com, bookmark or follow our blog at here at www.TattCafe.wordpress.com, or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

This festival will not only connect an international community of amazing pinup, burlesque, and rockabilly artists and enthusiasts, it’ll also be tons of fun and will raise money for a fantastic cause! Advance tickets can be purchased now and range from $25 for a one-day festival pass to a $220 all-inclusive pass for workshops and special events.

According to the co-founder of Pin Up America, Inc., April Catalano, “We’re not joking when we say this is a very unique event. In fact, for anyone interested in winning a free weekend pass to Burlesque Fest, we’re offering a full weekend pass to the first participant to get our amazing Burlesque Fest logo tattooed on his or her body! Doug Hatter of Z-Edge Tattoos and Piercings will tattoo it for free!”

AWARDS:
Each winner will receive:
-Custom crafted plaque*
-Feature on the Pin Up America Show
-All 3 winners will be featured together in Pin Up America Magazine
-A copy of the newest issue of Pin Up America Magazine

What a great poster for this Tattoo and Music Fest in Iasi, Romania next month!

If you are looking for a paramour for 2012, checking out tattoo oriented events is a wise and enjoyable past-time. Hundreds and hundreds of tattoo lovers and those who love them milling about showing off their ink. What’s not to like?

As it say, the official website is: www.tattoofestiasi.ro and you will find everything you need to know about what is happening with vendors, exhibitors, artists, and entry fees.

Keep me posted on your tattoo events and we will add them here and atwww.TattCafe.com in the members events section.